Abstract
12 Ss were asked to interpret a series of coded electrocutaneous pulses while engaged in a visual discrimination task of varying complexity. All Ss performed both tasks in each of 4 body positions (standing, sitting, kneeling, and prone). Ss were asked to indicate on each trial which 1 of 4 electrode locations was stimulated and whether duration of stimulation was .6 or 1.6 sec. A constant intensity of 1.5 v at 60 cps was employed. Three levels of complexity (no visual stimuli, 4 × 4 metric figures, and 8 × 8 metric figures) were employed in the visual task. In the cutaneous task, analysis of information transmitted (It), location errors, duration errors, and total errors indicate that timesharing demand significantly impaired performance, whereas variation in body position had negligible effect.
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